Non-motoring > Alpine recommendations Miscellaneous
Thread Author: legacylad Replies: 5

 Alpine recommendations - legacylad
I’m fairly experienced at alpine journeys, previously planning linear routes for friends staying in huts, small hotels or backpacking solo with my tent. Recently I’ve been cajoled onto my local walking group committee and decided to try to arrange a centre based walking holiday, either a single base over 7/8 days, or two bases over 14 days. Either the Alps or Dolomites.
It’s decades since I had a centre based holiday, Zermatt, and know very little of small towns and villages which I have passed through on my walking trips.
Does anyone have any recommendations...there must be thousands out there and I don’t know where to start, apart from relatively easy access from an airport such as Geneva, Innsbruck, Lyon.
Time to dust off my maps !
 Alpine recommendations - tyrednemotional
....bit of a tall order this one LL.

I could suggest a number of general locations in any of the Alpine countries, but the spec is rather wide to zero in on any.

Presumably you are looking for somewhere which would provide a day's walk of reasonable standard for each day of your stay? Providing variety for this from a single location isn't entirely easy, especially if you want, say, six different walks of a top-end Alpine standard. (Something slightly less strenuous is somewhat easier).

As for access, the better areas are probably somewhat less accessible, particularly by public transport (though there are some that come to mind), is car hire from the destination airport in mind?

Examples I would pick are:

The Ötztal in Austria. I particularly like Umhausen, because it is small, quiet, and off the main Valley drag (though other places might give more accommodation options). Accessible by combination of train and Postbus from Innsbruck, or only a short drive. Varied walking, from high terraces to 10000 footers, and the bus service up the valley gives varied jumping off points.

If you want somewhere uber-accessible, then I would suspect Garmisch-Partenkirchen might fill the bill. It's rather bigger, but has lots of possibilities if you're prepared to travel short distances at the start and end of the day. 90 minutes on the train from Munich.

If you wanted somewhere in the same broad area, but smaller and with direct access to the hills, then Ehrwald, in Austria, sits in a great bowl which has walking on all the ridges, and circular on the valley floor. About two hours on the train from Munich. Lift up to the top of the Zugspitze (but don't catch the one that goes to the German side back down, it's a long walk round!)

I like the Val Di Fassa in the Dolomites. Canazei or Campitello give access to lifts, and there is enough variety to see a week out. Not as accessible as the others above, though.

I could think of others.
 Alpine recommendations - legacylad
Many thanks mr tyred

I’ve cheated a bit and looked at where the companies operating Alpine holidays use as a base.
Ehrwald was on the radar...I’d never heard of it. Many moons ago I arranged a high level fortnights circular walking holiday in Austria for friends. We arrived in a summer snowstorm, so, tail between legs, backtracked and caught a train over the Brenner to the Dolomites where the weather was more sociable.

A week in Ehrwald, followed by a week in the Dolomites, ticks most boxes.

Judging by the number of caravans hearing up the A65 Settle by pass today I’m glad I’m working all Bank Holiday. The Lake D will mostly be like a zoo.
 Alpine recommendations - tyrednemotional
...had a good couple of sessions in Ehrwald. The walking is probably not the most spectacular of the ones I nominated, but the scope and variety is good for a week's base, and it is enjoyable by most standards. A number of the lifts from the valley are open in Summer, which makes for an enjoyable start and high-level traverse. Be aware that the traffic over the Fernpass can be diabolical on Summer weekends, but the road does at least bypass the main conurbations.

Frankly, if I had my own transport I'd head for the Ötztal after that (but I'm biased: it is a long term favourite). Different in character, but enjoyable.

Austria is, of course, somewhat more expensive than Germany, and I haven't found the Italian Dolomites that much cheaper (though I do like Val Di Fassa).

Another base worth a mention is Ellmau - the Wilder and Zahmer Kaiser are an "interesting" challenge, and it's very accessible from Innsbruck.
 Alpine recommendations - legacylad
Much appreciated.
I’m spending 5 days walking a mid section of the Southern Upland Way later next week with our LDWA group, so plenty of time to discuss.
Next June I plan to organise a trip to Jersey,( Jet2 from LBA) walk the Coast Path, transfer to Guernsey and walk the Coast Path there, returning to LBA with Aurigny Air.
 Alpine recommendations - martin aston
We are just back from 5 days in the French Alps, spending 2 full days walking. We stayed in Bourg St Maurice which is close to a lot of well known resorts such as Les Arcs and is connected to the Alpine winter ski runs/summer trails by funicular or you can easily drive up the mountain and park in the free car parks and walk immediately or take the ski lifts to much higher levels. The lifts offer the chance to get to spectacular scenery and the walking can be as hard or as easy as you wish. With a bit of planning you can mix walking and lifts to get circular walks. Of course only some lifts operate in summer as its low season. All lifts also take mountain bikes.

We got up into the old hamlets with their chapels and small farms as well as into the high peaks with views of Mont Blanc. Local walks include the Five Lakes from Fort de la Platte. This was highly recommended to us but we didnt have time.

Bourg itself is a good base with and old centre with lots of restaurants and bars. Its not totally dominated by ski-ing as its a working town as well as a resort. Prices for food and drink are high-ish (6 euro for a large beer) but nowhere as steep as Switzerland. Its even on the railway although flying is cheaper.

We flew into Geneva but previously have used Lyons. In both cases the drive is about two hours on excellent roads. Made particularly pleasant this time by an Octavia VRS diesel DSG. It was fast, quiet and comfortable despite 35 profile tyres. We only used 6 gallons for about 270 miles of fast main roads with 4 up, a bootfull of luggage and a lot of steep climbs. I was a passenger but was impressed, probably aided by the good road surface. It was a shock to the system to drive round the M25 at midnight last night with its noisy jointed surface and bumps.



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